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tv   Today  NBC  July 21, 2012 5:00am-7:00am PDT

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lowered to half-staff in mourning, movie theaters from coast to coast stepping up security as friends and family of the alleged shooter james holmes ask how could he do such a thing? and as they search for clues in one of the nation's worst ever mass shootings, authorities are carefully trying to enter his booby trapped apartment today, saturday, july 21st, 2012. and welcome to a special edition of "today" on this saturday morning. good morning, i'm savannah guthrie in aurora, colorado. lester is on assignment today in london. jenna wolf is back in studio 1-a. good morning. >> good morning. it's been more than 24 hours since the shooting. can you tell it's a little bit about what the mood is like over
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there? >> jenna, this is a town that is in shared heartbreak. people are just so stunned that another mass shooting could happen in the denver area. of course, just 13 years after the shooting at nearby columbine high school which is only about 15 miles from where we are right now. want to bring you up to date on what we know this morning. 12 people have been killed, 58 injured. 11 of the victims are in critical condition at this hour. the gunman has been identified by pleaing as 24-year-old james holmes. he is due to appear in court on monday. investigators say he used a military style semiautomatic rifle, shotgun, and a pistol and was armed with 6,000 rounds of ammunition. he had purchased all of it legally in recent weeks. police plan to enter his booby trapped apartment later today using a robot to detonate what are believed to be explosive devices. it's a very delicate operation. >> i can only imagine.
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this shoot has had ripple effects across the country. stepped up security at movie theaters. one chain banning customers from wearing masks to the new batman movie. is there really any way to protect the public at movie theaters and other soft targets? we're going to take a look at that. >> all right. ofcourse, the shooting is front page news here. here's the front page of the "denver post" saying "our hearts are broken." that really sums it up. we'll have more on the gunman, background and what could have led him to commit this shooting according to police. we're going to hear from several victims in the theater but managed to get out alive. and we'll check in with ann curry who has an update on the injured from one of the hospitals treating them. first, the latest on the investigation with miguel. >> good morning. they started lining up here at 6:00 p.m. on friday. amon reportedly, james holes bought his own ticket. set gunman allegedly responsible
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for the bloodshed. >> shooting at century theaters. >> chaos, confusion, bloodshed. a sprint to the exit. he would like shoot off a round of six to eight to ten shots. and it sounded like he was reloading. you could hear the scream of children. >> 70 victims total, 12 of them confirmed dead. dozens transported to the hospital. the victims soaked in blood, some carried out by family and friends. police say the alleged gunman, 24-year-old neuroscience graduate student james holmes wore body armor and was armed with an assault rifle, a 12 gauge shotgun and two glock handguns. minutes into the batman movie, he opened fire. his hair died reddish orange. he told police he was the joker. >> in the last 60 days, he purchased four guns at local metro gun shops and through the internet he purchased over 6,000 rounds of ammunition. >> reporter: witnesses say
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holmes ent ertd through an exit door, tossed what appeared to be smoke grenades then pinting the weapon into the air fired a single shot. the suspect then opened fire on the crowd spraying bullets at anyone that moved. holmes was taken into custody minutes after leaving the theater. >> he surrendered without any significant incident to our officers. >> reporter: today detectives have no motive and believe holmes acted alone just four miles from the crime scene police swarmed his apartment. >> his apartment is apparently booby trapped. >> reporter: friday, police found incendiary devices inside his home. the apartment complex had to be evacuated. across town, victims were rushed to multiple hospitals. the youngest, 3 months old. the oldest, 45 years old. >> the injuries range from gunshot wounds to the head to the neck to the chest and to the abdomen. >> referee: stephen barton can see the carnage and can't shake the nightmare. >> they started being, you know,
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the muzzle flash of the gun. at the time i still thought it was fireworks. it hit here. i realized it was something much more serious. >> reporter: this is now the deadliest shooting here in colorado since columbine back in 1999. and, of course, savannah, not just so many people in this state thinking about this tragedy but around the country. >> the people who went to the movies on friday morning just wanted to have a good time with friends and familiarly. among them a young couple who brought their children to the theater. nbc's ann curry is at the aurora medical center with more on their story. ann, good morning to you. >> good morning, savannah. that's right, of the 70 casualties, 30 people are still hospitalized, 11 are still in critical condition, two in this hospital. two of the survivors survived along with two young chirldren, the youngest, 4 months old. they tell a story of fear,
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courage, and the value of life. >> she threw my daughter to the floor and i ducked with ethan. and -- when i ducked, his head, like, fell back because of the way i was holding it into the crack in the seats -- in front of us. i got stuck. he was crying. his head was exposed. i'm thinking should i play dead? are they coming up the stairs? how many are there? is it still just a game? what do i do? what do i do? and you hear screaming. you're like no, it's not a game. people are dying. >> you were shielding your son with your body? >> i see the balcony. i'm just like can i jump off? can i jump off? i stand up. and i lean over to look how high it is. can i get ethan to jump off? can i jump off with him and be okay? what if i land funny, what if i break his neck?
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shots just started going off again. and every shot that he you just saw this is the way i die. >> did you get a look in the darkness? >> no. >> at the shooter? >> yes. i seen him. he sees me. and if he sees me, i'm dead and he's dead -- we're dead. that's all i could think about. try not to get seen. >> how was it that you and your children survived? >> i just remember there was a point where the gun shots stopped. i saw people running. i thought they're running. he's not shooting. >> you ran carrying your sun and dragging your daughter. you thought you were shot. you ran. >> just getting out of there as fast as can you. you see all the faces and you wonder how many of those people made it out? how many, you know, died in there? how can you hurt other human
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beings? >> is there anything you want to say to parents who are grieving the loss of their children in this tragedy? >> i don't even know what to say. they're in our prayers. i just -- i don't even know. you don't know what to think. and that's what makes this so hard. i'm so happy and so blessed that we got out. but i just feel so sad for those who didn't make it out and for their families. and i just -- i'm praying. >> what does this community need now? >> tie to each other. we rushed through life saying everything for granted. >> what was going on that he just wanted to hurt people? you no he? if you feel that way, get help.
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because, i mean, so many people are affected by this. it's just so sad. it's just something that could have been prevented. i mean just love each other. treat each other with respect. there's no need for this. there's no need to go and hurt other people. >> call your friends. call your family. kiss your son. kiss your daughter. hug them. you never know when it's going to be the last time. >> so when the tragedy of this day you realize you would ask patricia to marry? >> i just never want to be away from her again. >> he asked you this question today. >> yes. >> in the hospital? >> and what did you say? >> yes. >> jamie said that he decided to ask patricia to marry him because he realized from this tragedy what he might have lost. and patricia felt she never wanted to be without him. she wanted to grab another chance at life.
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these are two stories of two people who like many people here need tremendous love and support. savannah? >> thank you. and joining us now is a man that was in the theater next doo to where the gunman was opening fire. darrell, tell us what happened. gunfire came through your theater, didn't it? >> yes. we heard repettive popping noises. we saw smoke. things were hitting us. we didn't know what that was. from my group, we were far enough away where it didn't hurt us but we felt things hitting us. there were people running out with, you know, a young girl i remember seeing her holding her face. i don't though what happened to her if she was hurt. but they were sitting close to the wall adjacent to theater nine. >> whether did it dawn on you that something was going terribly wrong next door? >> the fire alarm went off. people started getting up. and going out to the exits.
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i was in the military when i was 17. i joined. at least in my group i said, you know, we shouldn't go out so quick. if that was actually a gun, there could be somebody there ambushing us. when i knew it was real is when people did make it to the door. the movie never stopped. it was in the middle of a scene where there was gunfire on the screen. so all that was going on as well. it was dark. people made it to the door and came back in and said there is someone shooting and there is someone killing us. there is someone with a gun. so that's when we knew something -- it wasn't fireworks. it wasn't part of the movie. that's when we knew. >> so many people were hurt. when you walked out in the lobby, i assume it was chaos. what did you think? >> well, we -- the first exit we tried to go out was the lower exits by the screen. once we heard that, went up to the upper exits by the projector. and so you were above the lobby. so the first thing we saw when we came out, the first thing we
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smelled, i should say, is the tear gas, pepper -- whatever that was. and then we saw aurora officers, you know, pouring through the doors with shot guns. and most of these people are young kids. they were young. and people were asking what do we do? what do we do? you know, we're echoing. show your hands. don't keep your hands down. so once they saw us, they got us out. so we didn't really see any of the chaos because the lobby was kind of clear, actually. we saw it outside is where we saw the carnage. >> and you are a pastor in this area. >> yes. >> did you try to counsel some of the victims? >> yes, we did. i was with a group of people that i serve with here in aurora. and one of the things that after we took care of the immediate needs, the people hurt getting them to ambulances, we started praying to people and ministering to people. there were people knew they had
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losses. they saw it happen. we were praying with them. you know, loving on them and giving them hope and a peace that can only be found in jesus christ. >> pastor, i'm sure you were a great comfort and will continue to be that's community heals. thank you for your time, sir. >> thank you. >> and now more on the alleged gunman. we know his name, james egan holmes. who is he? mike tie eastboundy is outside holmes' apartment. good morning you to, mike. >> reporter: good morning, savannah. the police may begin to start giving the answers when they finally get into his apartment. they spent all day thinking about how to do it safely. they will resume that attempt later this morning, an apartment that appears to be booby trapped, the police say, just as the suspect said it was when he was april henprehended after th massacre. he was just another graduate student living quietly awe few blocks from the university of colorado campus but in june he quit school and he bought the last of the four guns a few days later that were found at the scene of the massacre.
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>> james holmes had always been a gifted science student. but neighbors found him withdrawn and even reclusive. jackie mitchell says holmes was with him and a group of other guys talking football in a bar tuesday night. except holmes said almost nothing. >> he is book smart, you know, quiet. he didn't say too much. >> nakt, it wasn't much different during his san diego childhood. taylor adams and holmes were teammates on the west view high soccer team. >> he was not outgoing. he was very reserved. he seemed to keep to himself. >> reporter: still, holmes was an academic high achiever, getting a degree in neuroscience at the university of california river side. >> he was an honor student. he had a merit base scholarships here. >> reporter: but that was the high point. after riverside, he returned to san diego in apparent frustration, unable to get a meaningful job. entered as a grad student in
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colorado with ambitions. he only lasts a year. days after quitting, he bought the last of four guns exactly like these and is the lone suspect in an act of savagery colorado governor described this way. >> i mean this is the act of a very deranged mind. >> reporter: the vigils and flower memorials have started, this one near the theater complex. late friday residents of the buildings adjacent to holmes' apartment that were evacuated out of fear that his apartment were booby trapped were allowed for a few minutes to collect a few personal items but not to return yet an officer told this woman. >> he told me maybe one day. they're investigating the bombs. >> but it could be longer? >> it could be longer. >> reporter: no bomb confirmed but through the windows police with see a bunch of trip wires and bottles and vessels of unknown substances throughout holmes apartment, enough for the investigation to shut down for
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the night for another try at entering on saturday. >> it is a very vexing problem how to enter that apartment safely. i personally have never seen anything like what the pictures show us. >> reporter: one police officer told me this morning that scene of the apartment from the outside looking in looks like a movie set from a horror film. again, that attempt to get in will resume later this morning. meantime, holmes remains in jail reportedly not talking to the police, not cooperating and he hired an attorney prior to his first scheduled court appearance monday morning. savannah? >> all right. mike, thank you so much. as we head back to jenna in new york, i should add, jenna, as mike mentioned, the suspect will be in court monday. i spoke to his defense attorney yesterday afternoon. the defense attorney is extremely frustrated because he has not been able to get in to see his client. he is very much wants to speak to him. as we heard from mike, it does not sound like this suspect is talking to police right now. of course, this will all unfold in the coming days as we expect
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charges at any day now. jenna? >> all right. we'll have much more from you out in aurora in a little bit. we want to turn our head now to this morning's other top stories from cnbc's courtney reagan. good morning. >> good morning you to. good morning, everyone. well, investigators now believe that two missing iowa cousins were kidnapped. they arrived at this conclusion friday after an fbi dive team failed to find the girls' bodies in a lake where they were last seen a week ago. the 10-year-old and 8-year-old vanished after going for a bike ride in evansdale, a small town in northeast iowa. the u.s. department of agriculture declared a drought disaster in more than 26 states, the largest such declaration in the history of the program. u.s. corn and soy beans are at record high prices while the nation's cattle herd at the smallest level in at least four decades. forecasters say the hotter the normal temperatures which helped create the drought are expected to last through october. severe weather tore through
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north texas friday. high winds caused an 18 wheeler to tip over on to a passenger vehicle near the dallas-ft. worth international airport. hail, lightning and heavy rain delayed several flights. no one was seriously hurt. separately, rains caused a part of a ceiling to collapse friday at a mall in charlotte, north carolina. shoppers say it was very frightening but fortunately everyone got out okay. it's estimated that up to three inches of rain fell in about 45 minutes. turning to syria where the rebels are pushing deeper into the capital of damascus in their fight to topple the regime. we're monitoring the latest violence in cairo. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, courtn courtney, rebel fighters clashed for a seventh straight day in the capital of damascus. since an attack on wednesday killed the country's defense minister along with three other top security officials, rebels are frequently ambushing troops and attacking police stations in the capital. but the syrian military is
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fighting back fiercely, attacking neighborhoods with helicopter gunships and heavy weapons. but it's not just the capital that is seeing the intense fighting. opposition activists say the past 48 hours have been the deadliest since the conflict began. more than 450 people were reportedly killed in the latest escalation of violence across the country including the northern city of aleppo. dire humanitarian situation, the refugee agency says between 8,000 and 30,000 syrians have fled to neighbors lebanon in the past 48 hours alone. all of this as the u.n. goinz pull out the observers from the country after its 90-day peace plan expired on friday. courtney? >> very dire situation. thank you. the olympic torch is now in london, it arrived friday in dramatic fashion, flown in by a helicopter to the tower bridge. from there, it was repelled down to the ground by the royal marines before being handed off to the first london torchbearer.
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the 2012 olympics begin friday here on nbc. that's the news. now back to jenna and bill. >> bill karins is here with a check on the forecast. how you doing? >> we're doing okay. the middle of the country can't catch a break. that continues to be the story this summer. you're having temperatures that are more familiar with areas like phoenix, arizona. an excessive heat warnings continues from omaha to kansas city, topeka, all the way back up there to des moines. heat advisories in many other areas. look at the five-day forecast in kansas city. this is the same forecast i would give to phoenix this time of year. 100 to 105 straight through the middle of the upcoming week. the drought is only going to get worse in this area, too. the only cool spot on the map, pacific northwest in new england. every elsewhere is warm. in the southeast, you have a chance of seeing showers and thundersto good morning from the nbc bay area weather center this morning. we are talking about
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temperatures to warm to the 90s inland today. already 62 in livermore. 56 right now in san francisco. later on in the city, 74. get over towards oakland, 79. the hot spot today is the east bay. 98 in livermore. even 90 in san jose today. use the spf. make sure to watch your skin outside today and tomorrow. temperatures remain warm tomorrow and will be cool in the middle part of the upcoming week. the tragic death of an aspiring sportscaster still ahead. she just cheated death in another shooting in toronto. we're back with much more from new york and aurora, colorado. but if i ever, this is "today" on nbc.
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well, today this community will start to try to get back a little bit to how life was before the mall we are in right now, jenna, will reopen for business.
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it was closed yesterday, but the theater where these shootings took place remains closed indefinitely. the ten victims who lost their lives inside that theater have now been removed. and just ahead, we'll have a conversation with a young woman who was in the front row of that movie theater when the bullets started flying. she said the gunman looked at her, pointed a gun straight at her but didn't shoot. also ahead, we're going to have a closer look at the alleged gunman, james holmes. were there possible warning signs that could have been missed? we're back in a moment, but first, these messages.
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good morning to you. looking live at a very pretty sight today. always thinking of the folks in colorado as well. thanks so much for joining us this morning. we're with anthony slaughter who has the forecast. >> good morning. we are talking about temperatures in the 60s. a little bit of fog over the bay. but not bad. 62 in san jose. already there in livermore. that means it's going to be a very warm day.
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temperatures pushing close to 100 degrees in livermore. fairfield will be close to the same. 97 in concord. 91 in napa. get over towards the water, oakland at 79. san francisco at 74 later today. it's going to be a scorcher of a day. 90 inland. 92 tomorrow. it gets a little bit warmer on monday, 94. we cool back down to the 80s for wednesday. if you are doing traveling. maybe vacation in tahoe on tuesday, you may run into a mountain shower. take it easy outside today. and remember that spf. >> thank you very much, anthony. this morning we're learning more about the accused gunman in a shooting rampage at a colorado movie theaters. 24 james holmes is described as a reclusive grad student.
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he graduated with honors in 2010 from uc riverside with a degree in neuroscience. police say he had no l criminal history and his only violation was a speeding ticket last year. one of the victims in colorado narrowly escaped a mall shooting just weeks earlier. just before the shooting, she tweeted from the theater, movie doesn't start for 20 minutes. it was the last message she would ever send. her brother says she can't believe it. jessica left a mall food court in toronto moments before a gun started shooting into the crowd there. on her blog she wrote, i know i truly understand how blessed i am for each second i am given. and just weeks later a different gunman would end jessica's life. the shooting could not have happened on a worse day for one victim. alex sullivan was out
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celebrating his 27th birthday with coworkers when he was shot and killed. a california connection, another to the rampage. we learned one of the victims of the colorado theater massacre recently graduated. she studied music at cop. anderson was shot multiple times but survived. she underwent surgery and is now said to be recovering well. we'll have more on the colorado shootings coming up on "today in the bay" including a live report from aurora with the latest details on the investigation.
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. we're back with more of this special edition of "today" on saturday morning, the 21st day of july, 2012, one day after one of the worst shooting sprees our nation has ever seen. at least 12 people are dead, 58 more injured when a trip to the movies turned into mass carnage. good morning again, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie reporting from aurora, colorado. jenna wolf is back in studio 1-a. coming up in this half hour, we'll have the latest into the investigation at what happened at the century 16 movie theaters. >> the gunman james holmes has
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been in police custody for more than 24 hours. when he was apprehended he told police i'm the joker. holmes also warned investigators that his apartment was booby trapped. since then, we're told he has not been cooperating with investigators. we're going to talk to a former fbi profiler about what authorities are doing to build up the case against him. >> also, of course, security has been beefed up this weekend at movie theaters across the country. so what happened here make us rethink our security at place that's are usually considered safe like malls and schools. some people call them soft targets. >> then we're also going to tell you about a woman named jessa gawi. coming up, friends and family will talk about what an amazing person she was. >> quite a story. and then later, we have an exclusive interview with a young woman who was saved in the shooting by her boyfriend. a military man who sacrificed his own life for hers.
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but we begin this half hour with 22-year-old yelled jennifer seeger. she was in the theater with her best friend at the time of the shooting. i spoke with her on friday and asked her to describe what happened. >> i was sitting in the front row. it was about 20 minutes into the movie. the gunman come in and everybody thinks he's part of the show. they thought he was an entertainer. >> what did you think? >> i thought so, too. i didn't know any better. i figured they were trying to make, you know, the show seem more interesting. but then everybody started realizing he wasn't, you know, a show. it was not even entertaining. he literally chucked the canister like tear gas material sort of into the crowd. then everybody started coughing. he took the first fire. he shot it into the ceiling to make everybody panic. at which point everybody really did panic. there was screaming. there's a gun. get out of here! i was panicking myself. at that point he literally took the gun and pointed it at me.
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at my face. >> let me stop you right there. what were you thinking? >> honestly? i don't think i was thinking. i was just trying to survive. i knew if i didn't move, i was going to get shot. so i just, you know, dove right into the aisle and tried to tuck myself underneath the chairs and try to protect my best friend. >> he had all this gear on. gas mask, the vest. he must have been frightening. >> you know, he very much so was. i thought he was a cop and there was somebody in there that was trouble. he looked like a gentleman from a s.w.a.t. team. he was probably 6 foot, 185 pounds. you know, he was very muscular and a gun in his hand. anybody with a gun in their hand is terrifying. >> this just happened. it's so fresh. do you think is going to be something that clafrphanges you life? >> completely. i don't see how it couldn't. when you're that close to death and seeing so much other death
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around you, especially something as innocent as a kid or mom or dad or brother, it's really just something you can't even comprehend. you take it as it comes and take it with grain of salt. you know, i -- i'm not going to be the same person ever again. >> jennifer seeger in the theater yesterday. we're learning more now about people who lost their lives in this senseless attack. among them was an aspiring sportscaster who narrowly missed becoming a victim in another shooting rampage just a month ago. nbc's kate snow has her story. >> reporter: her name was jessica gwahi and she called herself a texas spit fire. >> i'll interview. >> i think i'm going to host the interview. >> if you had to know one thing about jessica, she loved hockey and sports writing. she wanted to make it as a sportscaster. peter burns was a friend and mentor. >> you talk to anybody here in the sports scene that knew her,
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it was an infectious, you know, attitude she had that everyone loved. >> so friday y'all are playing the texas stars. >> reporter: this is an interview she did on the ice in her hometown of san antonio, texas. >> she's not two seconds on the ice and sure enough she falls flat on her rear. >> and she clearly loved to laugh, even when it was on her. twitter was her thing, too. she persuaded an old buddy to go to the movies and, of course, she tweeted about that under her work name jessica redfield. she joked about con finsing her friend to go. people should never argue with me. and then another tweet from the theater. movie doesn't start for 20 minutes, she wrote. that was the last thing she ever tweeted. it went to her friend jesse specter. >> i like to think of her as just being so excited to go see the movie and as excite the as she was about doing everything else she did.
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>> jessica's family heard the awful news in the middle of the night. >> started with a phone call early morning in san antonio, texas, from my mother. hysterical. >> reporter: jessica's friend told them that all hell broke loose. jessica and her friend dropped to the ground. she was shot in the leg. >> he remained calm and took care of my sister. she got hit with the first rifle round on the ground. then he sustained an injury, a rifle round. >> he suddenly realized she was no longer screaming. she had been hit in the head. remarkably just weeks ago jessica cheated death in another shooting. she was in toronto, canada, visiting her boyfriend when a gunman opened fire in the food court at a busy shopping mall. jessica had been standing there only minutes before. >> what are the odds that you're in one of those incidents once in your life let alone twice within, you know, a two-month span? >> reporter: in a blog about the shopping mall shooting she
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wrote, i say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. so often i found myself taking it for granted. every hug from a family member, every laugh we share with friends. in that same blog, she also wrote this, we don't know when or where our time on earth will end. when or where we will breathe our last breath. jessica was 24 years old, full of life and laughter. >> and that was nbc's kate snow reporting. let's go back now to jenna in new york. all right. thank you. bill karins is back with another look at the weather forecast. >> good morning. take a little break and help everyone plan their weekend if you're doing outside plans. we don't have a lot of bad weather. the best chance for rain is in the southeast. that frontal boundary caused a lot of problems yesterday with thunderstorms. once again, today from raleigh to charlotte, atlanta, all the way to alabama and mississippi and louisiana, your best chance
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for storms. then your sunday forecast, not a lot changes. the middle of the country continues to sizzle. we'll see the hot temperatures expand, too. we'll be back near 100 as we start next week around clauhica. a lot of locations have a mini break from the heat wave and it's going to expand as we go from the tail end of the weekend good morning from the nbc bay area weather center this morning. i'm anthony slaughter. we're waking up with warm numbers. 62 in san jose already. 56 in san francisco. 55 in oakland. later on today, expect it very close to 100 degrees in livermore, concord, fair. over to oakland, cooler at 79. it remains warm for the rest of the weekend. drink plenty of water if you're headed out. and that's your weekend forecast. jenna? >> all right, bill, thank you. up next, inside the mind of the man accused of one of the
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worse mass shootings in united states history. that's right after this. [ female announcer ] looking for a bit of indulgence? look no further than the new chocolate chip frappé from mccafé. every bit as delicious as the mccafé frappés you love, only this one has a bit more wow. bits of chocolate chips in every sip, blended into mocha and caramel, all topped with a double drizzle of chocolate and sweet caramel. you've never had a frappé like this. better get your hands on one quick, 'cause it's only here for a little bit. the simple joy of the perfect sip. 'cause it's only here for a little bit. stayfocus lolo, focus.ya. let's do this. i am from baltimore.
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james holmes, the suspected shooter in the aurora movie theater killings, is scheduled to appear in court monday morning. so far, police have not released any comments he's made while in custody, and they haven't talked about a possible motive. so, where does the investigation go from here? clint van zandt is an nbc news analyst and former fbi profiler.
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clint, good morning. thanks for being with us. >> sure, jenna. good to be with you. >> take us inside this investigation a little bit. what are the big questions police are trying to get answered at this point? >> well, we all want to know motive, to begin with, but you know, we've got to be careful. i've seen people on television yesterday just flippantly, well, he's a sociopath, he's a psychopath. you know, in america, we all want to put a label on somebody, we want to say what is the cause and what is the cure? we want that real quick. i've got the flu. i shook hands with somebody who had the flu, chicken soup is going to cure me. well, with the human mind, that's not the same with a complex person, but the authorities are trying to understand motive, but jenna, they also want to make sure, because they know, for example, in 75% of mass murder cases, somebody other than the shooter knew something, they knew it was going to happen, they knew the person was accumulating weapons, they knew the person was angry,
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frustrated, rageful. so, they're trying to find out, number one, did he have any help? number two, was there anyone else who at least knew? and of course, we've got the big question that looms, too, is that apartment. why was that apartment booby-trapped? did he want to destroy evidence? did he want to set up a situation where an explosion took place just prior to his shooting, and therefore, the police would rush to one side of the town so he would be free to shoot on the other? or was he trying to kill first responders? >> right, well, let's talk about that apartment a little bit more. i understand police say there were trip wires, there's sophisticated explosive devices, a number of different potential bombs in the apartment. talk about the process of clearing this apartment out and what lies ahead in the next hours, possibly days, for the police at this point. >> well, number one, they really want to take their time. there is no hurry, there is no ticking bomb that we know of that's inside that place. and the last thing we want to do after all this other murder and mayhem we saw yesterday is to lose a police officer, an fbi
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bomb tech or anything like that. so, they're going to take their time. there's probably evidence in there that law enforcement needs to get their hands on. so, they're going to be very methodical. there is no rush, there is no hurry. they've got days to clear this place, so they can get in, number one, render safe any explosive devices, chemical devices, and two, get to the critical information. is there anything there that indicates his planning, his preparation? and was this just a one-two punch, the shooting and then the apartment, or would there be each a third phase we're not aware of? that information would likely be in that apartment. >> clint, we're not saying this is any sort of copycat situation, but you say there are aspects of this tragedy that remind you of the shooting in norway last year? >> absolutely. realize, two days from now will be the one-year anniversary with that horrific shooting in norway. and as you remember, jenna, in that situation, the shooter in norway first set off an explosive device that killed
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people and had law enforcement rush to that explosion. while they did that, he then went over to this island where all these young teenagers were, and methodically started mowing them down, killing them. another killing field just like we saw in that theater. jenna, a lot of times, people are not original thinkers, they're copycats, and somehow, i've got to imagine that may have impacted on him, notwithstanding that he dyes his hair a color and tells us he's the joker. >> we have a lot of questions still needing answers. clint van zandt, as always, thank you so much for your insight. >> thank you, jenna. up next, can you really feel safe anymore in public places? that's right after this. i love cash back. with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow!
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join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. there were gunshots flashing to my right, and i just see people falling, and i'm like, i've got to do something, i've got to do something. >> this community of aurora, colorado, is reeling after friday's deadly shooting at this movie theater. it is just the latest example of innocent people being put in harm's way in a place they had considered safe, and it has a lot of people wondering today, is there really any way to protect the public when a gunman comes on a mission? more now from nbc's michael isikoff. >> reporter: in movie theaters across the country this weekend, police step up security at showings of the new "batman" movie to reassure anxious
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patrons. >> the new york city police department is covering all 40 locations in new york city with police officers that are showing "the dark knight rises." >> reporter: the aurora shooting has shocked "batman" fans. >> like, it's kind of scary. >> reporter: why? >> because just knowing that, like, all those innocent people have been, like, injured or, like, killed. >> reporter: but they're still lining up. >> probably be looking out a little bit, but i think that's just natural after hearing news like this anywhere. >> reporter: a national group is talking to local and federal officials about ways to beef up security. that a movie theater has become a scene for a random, mass shooting is unnerving security experts. they've long been worried that so-called soft targets like this are virtually impossible to protect. what are soft targets? a tucson shopping mall where congresswoman gabrielle giffords was shot and six others killed by a deranged gunman, a church school in oakland where seven
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people were killed by a former student, a soccer field near wilmington, delaware, where just this month three fans were killed and two wounded. nationally, there have been about 60 multiple shootings in the past 18 months, a recurring theme, say gun control activists, is the ability of these shooters to obtain high-powered weapons, such as the ar-15 assault rifle and glock pistols used by alleged aurora shooter james holmes. >> the common denominator for all these tragedies is that a dangerous person had far too easy access to a gun that can deliver this kind of carnage in seconds. >> reporter: but the powerful national rifle association has blocked any move for stricter gun laws, meaning that, for now, beefed-up security and greater vigilance may be the best protection against horrific attacks like the one in aurora. for "today," michael isikoff, nbc news, washington. >> and we have much more still to come from aurora, colorado,
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site of one of the nation's worst shootings. but first, this is "today" on nbc.
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jenna, there are so many storiesere in aurora of unspeakable heartbreak, but also incredible courage. and still ahead, a true hero. the military man who gave his life to save his girlfriend. we will speak with her exclusively. she's alive today because of his bravery. >> we'll look forward to that. plus, more on the investigation as police try to find a way to enter the suspect's booby-trapped apartment. but first, these messages. with no added sugar. just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very "fruit-ritious." or try ocean spray light 50, with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit, and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry pomegranate and cranberry concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle. [ splashing ]
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good morning to you. looking live at the bay bridge toll plaza. it's a nice bright start to this saturday morning. thanks so much for joining us. i'm kris sanchez with anthony slaughter. >> it's going to be great. no fog. a lot of us waking up to sunshine. even in the coastal locations where we're usually looking at patchy fog today. not so much. just a little bit of low clouds. 56 right now in san francisco. same at oakland. mild start in livermore. san jose at 61 degrees. we're headed back close to 100
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degrees. livermore, you're going to be at 98. fairfield, 99. even in san jose, pop out near 90s. 82 there. even san francisco, 74 there. temperatures cool a bit tomorrow. i don't know if i would call 92 cool. but definitely not as warm as today. we are looking at temperatures for the 90s to 80s into wednesday as the oech breeze offers up the ac, which we're very familiar with this time of year. this morning we're learning more about the accused gunman at a shooting rampage at a colorado movie theater. 24-year-old james holmes is described as a reclusi reclusive standoffish grad student. he graduated with honors in 2010
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from uc riverside with a degree in neuroscience. police say he had no criminal history and his only violation was a speeding ticket last year. in an unbelievable twist of fate. one of the victims in colorado narrowly escaped a mall shooting weeks earlier. these are photos of 24-year-old jessica, an aspiring sports reporter. just before the shooting she tweeted movie doesn't start for 20 minutes. her brother just can't believe it. >> she had a passion for life, and it showed. it showed in everything she did. >> jessica left a mall food court in toronto just moments before a gunman started shooting into the crowd there. on her blog she wrote, i know how truly blessed i am for each second i am given. just weeks later a different gunman would end jessica's life. that shooting couldn't have happened on a worst day for one
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victim. alex sullivan was celebrating his 27th birthday at the screening when he was shot and killed. a california connection to the rampage. one of the victims in the colorado theater massacre recently graduated from university of pacific. 22-year-old petra anderson studied music. anderson was shot multiple times by the gunman but survived. she is said to be recovering well after surgery. we have much more ahead on "today in the bay." including a live report and how the massacre is affecting theater security here at home.
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this is an act that defies description. we can't connect emotions that we commonly think of. >> colorado's governor on the latest on this senseless shooting rampage, this time at a crowded movie theater, and it happened just miles from columbine high school, site of one of the nation's worst school shootings. and we are back with more of this special edition of "today" on a saturday morning, "tragedy in colorado." good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie in aurora, colorado. lester is on assignment overseas and jenna wolfe is in studio 1a
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in new york. jenna, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, savannah. all this happened more than 24 hours ago. has it started to sink in there in aurora t? >> you know, i think people here are still just in shock. and honestly, the biggest question still remains -- why? why would a gunman do something so heartless, so senseless? so many innocent people. and it may be a question that's unanswerable. here is the latest that we do know. 12 people have died, 58 were injured. 11 of those victims are in critical condition. the suspected gunman has been identified by police now as 24-year-old james holmes. he's due to make his first court appearance on monday. investigators say he used a military-style semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, and was armed with 6,000 rounds of ammunition. he had purchased all of that legally in recent weeks. police plan to try to enter his booby-trapped apartment later today using a robot to detonate what are believed to be explosive devices, incredibly
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delicate work and a frightening situation for everyone in that area, jenna. >> unimaginable. also after that, coming up, we're going to talk to a young woman who went to the movies with her boyfriend, a military man, when the gunfire erupted, he shielded her with his body and he saved her life. sadly, he died in the process. she'll talk to us about his heroic, last act in an exclusive interview in just a minute. savannah? >> jenna, thanks. we want to first turn to nbc's miguel almaguer, who has the latest on this investigation. miguel, good morning again to you. >> savannah, good morning again to you. fans started lining up to see this movie at 6:00 p.m., hours before it was actually to start showing. among those in the crowd is believed to have been the gunman, who purchased his own ticket. police say james holmes is the man who is responsible for the movie massacre. >> 315 and 314 for a shooting at century theaters. >> reporter: chaos, confusion, bloodshed, a sprint for the exits. >> he would, like, shoot off a
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round of six to eight to ten shots, and it sounded like he was reloading, but you could hear the screams of, like, children. >> reporter: 70 victims total, 12 of them confirmed dead, dozens transported to the hospital. the victims soaked in blood, some carried out by family and friends. police say the alleged gunman, 24-year-old neuroscience graduate student james holmes, wore body armor wand armed with an assault rifle, a .12-gauge shotgun and two glock handguns. minutes into the batman movie, he opened fire, his hair dyed reddish-orange. he told police he was the joker. >> in the last 60 days, he purchased four guns at local metro gun shops, and through the internet, he purchased over 6,000 rounds of ammunition. >> reporter: witnesses say holmes entered through an exit door, tossed what appeared to be smoke grenades, then, pointing his weapon into the air, fired a single shot. the suspect then opened fire on the crowd, spraying bullets at
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anyone that moved. holmes was taken in to custody minutes after leaving the theater. >> he surrendered without any significant incident to our officers. >> reporter: today, detectives have no motive and believe holmes acted alone. just four miles from the crime scene, police swarmed his apartment. >> his apartment is apparently booby-trapped. >> reporter: friday, police found incendiary devices inside his home. the apartment complex had to be evacuated. across town, victims were rushed to multiple hospitals. the youngest 3 months old, the oldest 45 years old. >> the injuries range from gunshot wounds to the head, to the neck, to the chest and to the abdomen. >> reporter: stephen barton would see the carnage and can't shake the nightmare. >> this started being, you know, the muscle flash of the gun. at the time, i thought it was still fireworks. then i got hit here and i realized it was something much more serious.
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>> this is now the deadliest shooting in the state of colorado since the columbine massacre in 1999. and of course, savannah, it's not just the state thinking about this tragedy, it's much of the country. >> of course. miguel almaguer with the latest on the investigation, thank you. well, some of the people at the movies thought the smoke and the shots were part of the show. my next guest's boyfriend, a military member, knew better. john blunk immediately threw jansen young down to the concrete floor, covering her with his body, saving her life, and ultimately, sacrificing his own life. jansen young is with me now. good morning. we send our condolences. >> thank you. >> how are you doing? >> i'm alive. i'm doing okay. like, the hardest part is realizing that this is real, i guess, you know? i'm still trying to work through it. i've only got three hours sleep since the incident, because it was like no option at all
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yesterday, so, i'm still trying to, i guess, sort through the whole thing. >> when you think back to what happened inside that theater, do you remember the moment you realized, there's a gunman, he is shooting, this is real? >> it was kind of all, like, it was scattered. like, i would think it was real for a minute and then i would kind of change my mind and be like, no, this can't be real, these people are acting, this can't be real. and probably, i mean, it was the most real, like, i knew for sure was when i finally tried to sit up and realized, like, me and a few others were left in the movie theater, and i was like, whoa, oh my gosh, this really is real. because even though things were going crazy, and you know, people were screaming, "i've been shot, i've been shot!" i was like, oh, my gosh, this is real. no, this can't be real, you
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know, this is a joke. >> and john immediately kind of pushed you to the floor, didn't he? covered you with his body? >> yeah. well, he immediately did like a bomb, or something. it flew up behind us, like up in the left-hand corner if you were looking up in the screen, and it just went boom, and he immediately, he, like, pushed my hips down to the floor and he's like, "jansen, get down and stay down," and i was like, what? what is going on? why? because i have to question everything. and i was just like, what's going on? and he kind of pushed me in under the seat and pushed on me real hard and he was, like, laying up against me. he kind of whispered in my ear, "there's someone with a gun and he's shooting people," and i just didn't know, but he knew immediately that it was real. >> you were down on the floor. he was hovering you. what could you hear? what could you sense? what could you feel on your own body? >> there was someone, like, they were probably sitting a row
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above me. it was a female and she was screaming "i've been shot! i've been shot!" and i didn't know, i kind of felt a little bit, but i didn't really know what that was. then it was like a whole bunch of wetness everywhere, and i started thinking, like, this is definitely, that's water pouring, that's too much wet to be anything but a water balloon. and then people -- a person just kind of stepped on me on the way out and was screaming "jesse's been shot!" and i could hear people breathing. >> and it was blood that you felt on your body. >> yeah, and i didn't know that until after, obviously, i had gotten out. >> there came a time when you did have a chance to get out, but you realized that john was lifeless. did you know that he was gone at that moment? >> i think so. i kind of -- i tried to shake him, like john, john, we've got to go, and i tried to call 911. i was trying to find his cell phone to call 911.
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i didn't know if they knew. then i kind of poked my head up at that point and realized, like, oh my gosh, nobody's in here, it's just us. there were, like, a few other heads here and there, people i could see, but really the theater was empty, it felt like. so, that's when i got out. and yeah, i thought, i kept thinking, like, oh, my gosh, i think john just took a bullet for me. i was thinking about what a great hero he is. and like, he provided me the opportunity to survive through that, and he just knew, you know? >> he was obviously a wonderful person, what he did for you in those final moments. what would you want people to know about this man that you loved? >> he was just a hero last night. he has been a hero, you know, forever, and well before i
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even -- one thing he said to me was, we were, like, talking, and one thing he said was, jansen, i was born to serve my country. because he was re-enlisting, and it was just what he wanted to do, and he loved it, you know? i know, even though, like, he saved me and he did me the opportunity to live, he would have done it for anyone that day, you know? the person sitting next to him, he would have been like, this person needs my help now. that's just who he was, and everybody knew it. he went above and beyond to help everyone, and he was an incredible person. >> when you think about that, the fact that he saved your life, you must feel such incredible love for him. >> oh, my gosh, yes. like, i even, laying down in bed last night, going, i don't know if i can sleep, i don't know if i can sleep. and the last thing i felt was tired, but all i could think was, i know the most incredible
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man, and i love him so much. i prayed to john last night, saying, like, john, i love you. it's so great for what you have done for me. >> did you have a chance at all to speak to his family? >> a little bit. we got to -- a lot of his family's not in colorado, so of the few family members that are here, i got to talk to them yesterday at the high school, and i got to talk to a little bit more of his family over the phone, and we're trying to work through it. >> i can't even imagine what you must be feeling and thinking right now. this must just be something that has already changed your heart and will change your life. >> i think so. >> have you thought about how you might go forward, how you might be able to heal? >> i can't even fathom it. i can't even fathom not coming home to john, you know?
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like, i don't even know at this point if i'm willing to stay in colorado. i mean, three days ago, i was coming back to colorado because i was going to live with john, be with john. now i'm like, what, what am i coming back here for? my family's not here, you know? like, i graduated. i don't know. >> i can't thank you enough for sharing your story and telling the world about the wonderful man that you knew. and we're so glad that you're here with us. >> thank you. >> we really appreciate it. jansen. and now we want to head back to jenna, who's in new york. >> absolutely heartbreaking, savannah. thank you very much. we want to take a little break from aurora now and get a check of this morning's other top stories from cnbc's courtney reagan at the news desk. courtney, good morning. >> good morning to you, jenna, and good morning, everyone. law enforcement officials say the first of two missing cousins has been reclassified as an an dupsion after an fbi team
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failed friday to find their bodies in a lake in northeast iowa. 10-year-old lyric cook-morrisey and 8-year-old elizabeth collins disappeared a week ago while riding their bikes near the lake. and the sentencing phase begins today in the court-martial of an air force instructor convicted of raping a female recruit and sexually assaulting several others. staff sergeant lewis walker was convicted friday of the most serious charges in a sweeping sex scandal involving instructors at lackland air force base in texas. he could be sentenced up to life in prison. mitt romney will audition on the international stage next week when he travels to england, israel and poland. aides say the republican candidate will be looking to establish credibility as a potential commander in chief in his challenge of president obama. the death toll is rapidly mounting in the latest fighting in syria. more than 450 people have been killed in the past two days as rebels push deeper into the capital of damascus trying to topple bashar al assad's regime.
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the u.n. says thousands of terrified civilians have fled to lebanon and iraq to escape what's being described as some of the worst violence of the 16-month uprising. and finally, a london taxi driver is hoping to make some extra money during the olympics. he's converted the back of his traditional black cab into a single bed for those who want to sleep in a most unusual hotel. the bedroom will eventually be fitted with curtains and a solar-powered fridge. the 2012 olympics begin friday, july 27th on nbc. i hope our nbc colleagues have secured their hotel rooms so they don't have to see a cab. now back to you, jenna. >> i feel like they're all set. i feel like they're good. >> they're going to be all right? >> just my feeling. bill karins is here with a check of the weather. hey, bill. >> well, good morning, everyone. this weekend's forecast is much more of the same, broken records. we're looking at the same hotspots day after day. it's shifted a little bit. we had a break yesterday in st. louis, but the heat's going to quickly return, so i hopo enjoyed it. but today, look at dallas up through central kansas, 105 to
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107 degrees. this is the drought map, one of the big stories this summer. all the farmers' fields from kansas to arkansas from the corn belt, through illinois, indiana and ohio, really struggling. we need the moisture. the green on the map is where it is raining, and we're not getting it in the spots we need. we're appreciating it a bit in the southeast and northern plains, but is really in the heartland that we need a soaking, and it's not good morning from the nbc bay area weather center this morning. i'm anthony slaugter. we're talking about a very warm day. livermore at 61. san francisco and oakland both at 56. later on today in the city. 74 in san francisco. 79 in oakland. over into the east hills and the east and south bay we are talking about temperatures pushing very close to 100 degrees. keep the spf handy. drink plenty of water this weekend and have yourself a good time out in the sun forecast. jen jenna? >> all right, bill, thank you. coming up next, colorado reeling after yet another shooting spree.
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back now with more of a special edition of "today," "tragedy in colorado." this shooting spree has haunting echoes of the deadly attack at columbine high school back in 1999, just 15 miles away. we are joined now exclusively by colorado governor john hickenlooper. governor, good morning. thank you for being with us. >> you bet. good morning. >> so, these numbers are just so hard to wrap your head around. 58 injured, 12 people killed. can you tell us a little bit about the conditions of those injured, those who are still in the hospital right now? >> well, i haven't seen this morning, but as of yesterday, yesterday afternoon, we still had 11 people in critical condition. so you know, we have the best doctors. one of the untold stories so far is just how the medical community in the middle of the
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night came together incredibly, i mean, without -- just seamlessly in terms of making sure with that level of a disaster, the right people got to the right hospitals. we had surgeons there literally within minutes. that, i mean, it could have been much, much worse -- as horrific as it is, it could have been a lot worse. >> that was the silver lining there. i want to ask you about the suspect, james holmes. neighbors have described him as a recluse, as somewhat of a loner. what have you learned about him? do you have any sense of why at this point he might have done something like this? >> well, and you asked one of those things, even if we had opinions, which we don't, you want to make sure that there is justice in this case and we want to make sure that we're not prejudicial. we do know that he seemed to have been a loner or a recluse, obviously very bright. that's been also reported. i mean, i'm not sure we're ever going to know. obviously a deeply troubled individual, and whether we'll ever get to know where that trouble came from and how it
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manifested itself in had i hideous way, we still have to see. >> we've been hearing so much about his booby-trapped apartment. we understand that one of his neighbors actually went upstairs because he had left his music blaring so loud, she almost opened the door. she did call 911, we understand. do we have any sense of who these booby traps were targeted for? was it police, an unsuspecting neighbor trying to quiet a noisy tenant? have you spoken to police about any insight there? >> you know, i think they're still gathering information at this point, again, trying to make sure they have a thorough investigation before they release details, you know, a piece here and a piece there. >> all right, well, governor, all our thoughts and prayers are with you in the days and the weeks ahead as you and your community come to terms with everything that's happened. governor john hickenlooper, thanks again for joining us this morning. >> well, we appreciate it. thank you. >> we're back in a moment with much more from aurora, colorado, but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ male announcer ] it would be easy for u.s. olympian meb keflezighi
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as we continue our coverage from aurora, colorado, still to come on "today," in his own words. an aspiring college football player who was shot in the neck and survived. jenna? plus, savannah, we're going to talk to an er doctor who treated patients from the shootings 13 years after doing the same following the columbine high school attack. but first, these messages. every room deserves to look great. and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision. so when we can feel our way through the newest, softest, and most colorful options... ... across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get 10% off or up to 24 months special financing on carpet purchases with your home depot credit card.
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good morning to you. a nice start to this saturday morning. it's going to be a warm one. looking live at a little bit of fog there. i'm kris sanchez along with meteorologist anthony slaughter with a look at your weekend forecast for whatever you have planned. >> the fog is not going to stay long. that stays for another hour or so and then we're looking at skies clearing. 56 in san francisco. clear skies are in the south and east bay. 61 in san jose. same as liver squn more this hour. it's going to be very warm.
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some of the areas getting very close to 100 degrees for gilroy and livermore, cochran. if you're headed to wine country, try to mix some water with that because we're talking 91 in santa rosa. 90 in napa. nice in oakland, 79 later on today. temperatures will warm in a big way. we're talking about 90s today. cooler weather on the way. by wednesday we're back into the 80s. little stretch of hot weather. nothing we condition get. we are learning more about the accused gunman in the shooting rampage in a colorado movie theater as the community is coping with this devastating tragedy. he is described as a reclusive grad student. he recently quit the university of colorado medical school.
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he graduated with honors in 2010 from uv riverside with a degree in neuroscience. his only criminal history was a violation for speeding last year. in an unbelievable twist of fate. one of the victims just narrowly escaped a mall shooting just weeks ago. she was an aspiring sports reporters. just before the showing she tweeted movie doesn't start for 20 minutes. it was the last message that she sent. her brother can't believe it. she had a passion for life. it showed in everything she did. jessica left a mall food court in toronto moments before a gunman there started shooting in the crowd. she wrote in a blog i know i truly understand how blessed i am for each second i am given. just weeks later a different gunman would end her life. the shooting happened on a terrible day for one victim.
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alex sullivan was celebrating his 27th bth at the screening when she was shot and killed. a california connection to the rampage. one of the victims of the massacre recently graduated from the university of pacific instockton. petra anderson studied music. she underwent surgery and is said to be recovering well. coming up, we have much more including a live report with details on how they plan to get inside the booby trapped apartment.
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i just buried my head down and just in the aisle, you know, and just started to pray. >> that is one of the victims describing the sheer horror in the movie theater here in aurora, colorado. 12 dead, 58 others injured in one of the nation's worst ever shooting attacks. and we are back with a special edition of "today," "tragedy in colorado," on this saturday morning, the 21st day of july, 2012. good morning, everyone. i'm savannah guthrie. jenna wolfe is back in studio 1a. jenna, when the gunfire rang out early friday morning, at least one of the bullets pierced the wall to the theater next door, and we're going to hear from a
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young man who was hit by that bullet in just a moment. >> yeah, savannah, we're also going to talk to an er doctor who helped some of the victims in the tragic shooting and also at columbine high school back in 1999 as well. plus, movie theaters nationwide stepping up security after this attack, but is it enough to make people feel safe? we're going to get into that a little bit more, savannah. all right, jenna. we're also going to talk about the survivors, the guilt they may feel and how you can talk to your kids about this attack as well. but let's begin with one of the victims who was injured in friday's shooting. zachary goldich was watching "the dark knight rises" in the theater next to where the shooting happened, but one of the bullets went through the wall and struck him in the neck. he talks about what happened in his own words. >> the movie started and everything was good, you know. we were having our batman masks, having a good time, you know. then there was actually a scene in the movie, you know, where guns were actually fired in the movie, and it sounded like
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someone tossed, you know, like fireworks or something. i actually had no idea that there was someone in the other theater, like, shooting. i look over and i can see the smoke, you know, like they said there was some type of firework. next thing i know, i turn around and a second or two later, like bam, right in the back of my head. i thought my ear had got blown off or something, you know. i just kind of fell into my friend's lap and, you know, just was screaming because of the pain. i feel the blood just hitting my hands and it's hitting pretty rapidly, and i got cut pretty good. i'm saying i've got to get out of here, because i'm losing blood pretty quick, you know. so, i hopped, i had to jump over a row of seats and i run out of the theater. i didn't know i was actually hit with a bullet until i was, you know, kind of cleaned up in the hospital and they're like, hey, man, you got shot with a gun. it missed the vitals, like the nerves and veins and what not.
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still, it's still pretty painful, but they just said i was really, really lucky, you know. like an inch turning my head this way or, you know, if i would have done something different, who knows where the bullet would have landed in me. it is a significant event, but i'm just trying to be like, hey, okay, i was shot, let's move on, just be thankful that i'm here and i was able to make it out alive. >> that was shooting victim zachary goldich in his own words. and now we turn to an emergency room doctor in colorado who had seen too much tragedy. dr. chris palwell treated victims from the columbine shooting and then on friday night treated shooting victims at aurora and joins us this morning from the medical center. sir, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> as i understand it, your hospital treated seven of the victims. what condition were they in when you saw them? >> their conditions ranged from
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very good condition to quite serious. we had some that we were able to treat and release from the hospital, and then others that needed to go to the operating room quite quickly. >> i imagine in a situation like this, everyone is still in shock. how were the patients and their families holding up when you saw them? >> well, we didn't interact with a lot of families at that point. patients were certainly holding up remarkably well under the circumstances. i think at that point, we were all able to better focus on the injuries, what needs to be done next, how we can best take care of them, not necessarily, at least at that time, think about the whole situation and everything else that's going on. >> for you, this must have been all too familiar. you were one of the physicians actually on the scene at columbine high school back in 1999. then you get a call in the middle of the night yesterday
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with another mass shooting. can you talk about just how you felt at that moment? >> so, certainly, it certainly did bring back some very difficult memories. and thankfully, again, in a situation like that, we can concentrate on what needs to be done next, what our job is, what we have to do, how we can try to take care of the victims and anybody else that might need us. it's after it, after everything kind of becomes stabilized and you leave the hospital, go home and you sit down and try to think about, again, what happened, try to make sense of it, and in many ways, you just can't. so it's easier to focus on things we can make sense of, which is somebody who needs to be treated, somebody that we can help. >> i had heard that one of the nurses you work with who knew that you had been at columbine kind of pulled you aside for a moment yesterday. what did she say? >> no, she -- when i came into
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the hospital here, she saw me walk in, said, thank god you didn't go to this scene. and i said i couldn't agree more. >> are there lessons learned in terms of the response, the medical response, that you got from columbine that you see in action today? >> well, i think certainly, we want to take advantage of, as tragic of a situation as columbine was, we want to try to learn that we can be better prepared if, god forbid, it could ever happen again. and sure enough, here we are looking at a situation. obviously different, but too similar in too many ways. and we do hope to get some learning objective from this, something to take away from it. and the same thing with columbine. we were able to learn about managing scenes like that, how to respond, how to focus on the patients, look at what we had,
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prioritize who needs what resources immediately, who may need them in more of a delayed fashion. things like that are ways that we can be better at managing even tragic scenes like this, and i think we certainly were, as tragic as columbine was, better to manage these types of scenes than we were before. >> dr. chris colwell, thank you for speaking with us this morning and thank you for your good work, sir. >> thank you. have a good day. >> and now let's get a final check of the weather from bill karins in new york. bill, good morning to you. >> good morning to you, savannah. amazing stories all morning long out of colorado. let me help everyone with your weekend forecast, get you out the door, in case you have plans for the day today. only locations i'm minorly concerned with a possible rainout today, louisiana, watch out for thunderstorms, especially this afternoon, and up through the carolinas again i think we have a good chance of getting additional rain and pop-up storms. the northern plains, south dakota to northern minnesota also one of those spots that
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will be dodging the rain drops. but the middle of the country, you're not going to want to be outside. temperatures will be easily above 100 degrees from dallas all the way up through nebraska. kansas continues to be the poster child for our amazingly hot summer, lately, easily in the 100s for at least the next five days in a good morning from the nbc bay area weather center. i'm anthony slaughter. we're talking about a warm day on the way. 61 in livermore. 53 in santa cruz. later on at the beach. santa cruz, 83 degrees. a perfect beach day. 90 in san jose. 98 in livermore. it's going to be a warm day inland. same for tomorrow and for monday with cooler weather by wednesday. that's a look at your weekend forecast. jenna? >> bill, thank you. up next, movie-goers everywhere on edge after the tragedy in colorado. but first, these messages.
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>> at that moment, i just remember thinking i'm not going to die in here. me and my kids, we're not going to die in here. i need to get them out. i need to get out. ♪
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the new "batman" movie is perhaps the most anticipated film of the summer, but anyone who is going to see it this weekend has to be thinking as well about the shooting in colorado. nbc's anne thompson now on the ripple effect. >> reporter: this movie had blockbuster written all over it, millions of devoted fans expressing their affection with costumes and cash, collecting record-breaking $30 million in back sales before the first frame flashed on the screen.
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but after the tragedy, caution replaced excitement at screenings of "batman" across the country. >> i'm going to be a lot more aware of the exits around the movie theater from now on because of the news this morning that i saw. it's really kind of scary to think someone would do this. >> reporter: to calm fears, many in alexandria, virginia, saw an increased police presence. they are at 30 new york city theaters where the movie is playing. >> one for "batman," please? >> reporter: in chicago, joe jensen couldn't stay away, but couldn't ignore what happened, either. >> you're looking to do a little adventu adventure, and suddenly, that place is no longer a safe zone. >> reporter: kelsey phillips is one of those reassessing. >> if there is a movie with a midnight showing that i would really want to go see, i think i would maybe think twice about it just because you can't forget. >> reporter: the event made everyone pause. >> there's not one of us that doesn't read or hear this story, certainly anyone who has children, and think about it
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could be your child in that movie theater. >> reporter: the fear reached all the way to paris. the french premiere canceled because of the shooting. the olympic torch arrived in london friday, but it was colorado that led britain's newscast. >> the night at the movies that turned into a massacre. >> reporter: at some theaters, there are new rules. >> the amc movie chain announced it will not allow customers to wear face-covering masks or bring fake weapons into theaters, and warned those in costume could be turned away. cinemark, the nation's third large yes theater chain and owner of the theater where the shooting took place, tried to reassure its customers. >> we have over 250 million people a year attend our theaters here and throughout the world, and the security or problems are very, very rare. >> reporter: where a place to escape to became a place to escape from. for "today," anne thompson, nbc news, new york. up next, dealing with survivors guilt.
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plus, how to talk to your kids about this tragedy. but first, this is "today" on nbc.
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the survivors of the colorado shooting are lucky to be alive, but the path to recovery could be long, especially psychologically. survivors guilt is sure to set in for some, which is common in a tragedy like this. dr. gail saltz is a psychiatrist and a "today" contributor. gail, good morning. thank you for being with us. >> good morning, jenna. >> first of all, explain to us, what is survivors' guilt? >> it's just that, it's guilt that you lived while somebody else died. it could be somebody in as close proximity as, you know, they shielded you and you feel guilty you survived and they didn't. or it could be more distant, like why did this happen to my family member, even if you weren't there, and not me? >> how does the guilt play into the role of recovery for the
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movie-goers, for the people that did survive? >> i think for some of them, it probably will be very significant. you know, it depends a lot on the individual's psychology. in other words, are you someone that's prone to that type of guilt? what kind of relationship did you have with the person that you feel guilty that they died and you didn't? but there are definitely going to be people, because it was so random and because some, a family member was killed and the other one wasn't, a friend was, the other one wasn't, people shielded people -- >> right. >> so, i would be very concerned about some of the people who were there. >> where does post-traumatic stress syndrome fall into this? i mean, are these people going to be able to go back to the movies any time soon, or is that more of an individual thing? >> well, initially, you're looking at an acute reaction, which you expect everybody to be having. initially, they might have nightmares and feel very disturbed and fearful. post-traumatic stress disorder isn't something we would even talk about for a period of time, and only a small percentage of those will go on to develop that. so, they'll go on to develop
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avoidance of movie theaters or anything that reminds them of that, maybe depression anxiety, difficulty sleeping, flashbacks. some may go on to develop that, and you would want to be on the lookout for those things because those people will need treatment. >> but this isn't just for them. i know for myself, the next time i go to a movie theater, i'll be thinking about this, looking for exits, wondering if this could happen. >> that's right. that's very normal. i think many people in this country, because this is such a visible story, such a disturbing story and so in our home, in our backyard, normal people will feel that anxiety, but that will dissipate, because the reality is, this is a bizarre and highly rare event. there are thousands of thousands of movie theaters across this country that are showing movies every two hours, and this has never happened. so, i think initially, people are realistically concerned about copycats, which is why issues like security are valuable now, but ultimately, living in a world of fear and
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limiting yourself because of that would take much more away from your life than the risk that actually exists of this. >> then there's the issue of how you talk to your children about this. i'm sure a lot of children have been watching some of the coverage, are concerned that they go to a movie or what not. how does a parnth talk to a child and say this isn't going to happen, most likely, the next time you go see a movie? >> i think what you have to do is take the cue from your child. you want to be honest, ask them what they're thinking about, ask them what they're feeling, you want to honestly answer their questions, but depending on the age of the child, not offer that much detail. so, you know, for young children, you don't need to tell them all the specifics. it will just make it more graphic and more disturbing. you want to keep them away, quite honestly, from the media coverage. they shouldn't be watching this over and over, because for a kid, it feels like it's happening over and over, when they see it. and if your child starts to increasingly manifest anxiety along the way, then they may be an anxious child who's latched on to this to be anxious about,
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and they may need some help. but really, you want to reassure them that this is unusual, highly unusual, and that the risk isn't really there for them. >> if anything, this is a process and it's going to take time. >> it's going to take time to heal, and depending how close in proximity you were to this event and the people involved, it may take longer. >> dr. gail saltz, thank you very much. appreciate you being here. we're going to take a break and come right back with some final thoughts. but first, these messages. i've been coloring liz's hair for years. but lately she's been coming in with less gray than usual.
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the community of aurora, colorado, is waking up to heartbreak this morning, as the reality of all that has been lost begins to set in. and of course, there are many painful days ahead as memorial services and funerals are planned for the 12 victims who passed away. and there is also a very delicate and dangerous operation for law enforcement, to require their skill, their expertise and also their courage as they try to get into the suspect's booby-trapped apartment, jenna. and of course, we'll continue to cover this story. >> yeah, such an unimaginable and horrific tragedy for this community, who has dealt with this way too often, especially after the columbine tragedy as well. we will be covering this story all day, so stay tuned to msnbc on cable, nbcnews.com and the internet, and of course, "nbc nightly news," savannah. >> all right, jenna, thank you. this has been a special edition of "today," "tragedy in colorado." we wish everyone a good day.
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♪ -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com
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like, i got to get him. so i just maneuvered over he left another in his car. and then opened fire. the 911 dispatch calls are chilling. >> we need rescue inside the auditorium, multiple victims. good morning! wow.
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forecast that looks lovely wherever you are. >> wherever you're looking, we have it all covered. we've got it live. the san bruno mountains. the patches of fog are starting to break apart. we have a big area in the middle of the country. 62 in san jose. 57 in san francisco. we are talking about a very warm day. plenty of sunshine. not much in terms of cloud cover. 74 in san francisco. >> we'll take it and check in with you later on. this morning the shock and heartbreak continues over the massacre at a colorado movie theater. right now we know police in aurora are working on a plan to get inside the alleged gunman's booby trapped apartment and 12 people did not survive the massacre. dozens more are still

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